


Optimus/Ratchet - Home - Part IV

by 0fflined



Series: Optimus Prime/Ratchet: Home [4]
Category: Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 06:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9165406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0fflined/pseuds/0fflined
Summary: Optimus Prime is back. Bumblebee feels bad for not being able to reunite him with Ratchet. When Ratchet crosses paths with Bee Team, he and Optimus are finally able to catch up on the lost time.





	1. Surfaced Memories

Bumblebee was so glad to see his mentor in flesh and blood, like the humans used to say. Maybe it's more like, in metal and energon in their case. Reuniting with Optimus really surfaced memories, good and bad, from many years ago. Memories of the Team Prime, Megatron and his Decepticons, Unicron, saving Cybertron... and losing Optimus. Bee also remembered Ratchet, who most likely still believed that Optimus was forever gone. If he could, Bumblebee would find a way to contact Ratchet and tell him about Optimus, but he didn't even know where the bot was. He hadn't heard from him since he left... Even though the medic promised to stay in contact, there must've been a good reason why he hadn't called or met him during those years.

"Lieutenant Bumblebee!" Fixit greeted him as he walked to the command center.  
"How has your way-! Pay-! FZZZT-DAY been?" Fixit started, knocked himself on the chest as he started glitching and ended his sentence with a bright smile.  
"Heey, Fixit. It's been just fine. Actually, I'm looking for Optimus, is he around here somewhere?" Bumblebee answered and asked, gesturing with his hand. Fixit shook his head.  
"He's not here at the moment, Lieutenant. Strongarm and Windblade offered to show him around the surrounding areas", the Mini-Con answered. 

Drift's Mini-Cons appeared next to Bumblebee. They were accompanied by Russell.  
"I like Optimus sir's war stories! They are quite educational!" Jetstorm said and gestured with his hands a bit.  
"And inspiring", Slipstream added; "They may not be about what our training is, but they sure are amazing."  
"I could fill you in with a few stories as well, you just need to ask", Bumblebee replied with a smallish little chuckle. Was he a bit jealous of the attention Optimus was getting? Maybe.  
"I fought alongside him for years, after all." 

"Yes, Lieutenant Bumblebee, that'd be an honour!" Jetstorm rejoiced, calming himself down rather quickly though.  
"Hearing stories from the heroes of Great War is a glorious privilege!" Slipstream added and smiled widely. Russell stepped closer to Bee and asked: "Were there many others besides you and Optimus, Bee?" Bumblebee chuckled with a proud smile, he placed his hands on his hips.  
"Of course there were! There were nine of us in total, every last one of them great warriors", Bumblebee explained proudly. 

"One of them made history by changing sides!" Fixit added once he had the chance to speak.  
"Knock Out was a Decepticon before joining the Autobots", he continued and brought up Knock Out's bio on the screens. Slipstream and Jetstorm confused this a bit, they hadn't heard of this kind of a situation before. Their sensei appeared next to his students. He spoke: "It is highly unlikely for a Con to change sides, but it is not unheard-of. Every sentient being deserves an opportunity for redemption." Bumblebee looked silently at Drift. Those were the exact same words Optimus once spoke. That moment he was talking about Starscream, but it made no difference. Even if he was an ex-Con, Knock Out had earned his place amongst the Autobots. 

After Drift ended his sentence the guides returned to scrapyard with Optimus. They transformed to bot mode.  
"And that's about it", Strongarm ended whatever she had been explaining to the two bots. Windblade gave a nudge with her head and said: "Thanks for the trip, Strongarm. Now I know my surroundings better around here too."  
"Thank you, Strongarm", Optimus thanked her as well.  
"You're welcome, sir. Windblade", Strongarm answered with a joyful smile. The two fembots retreated a bit further as Optimus walked to Bumblebee, the Mini-Cons and Russell. 

Windblade and Strongarm were accompanied by Sideswipe and Grimlock. Drift sat down a bit further and took out his blade, his students sat down near him to meditate. Or try, at least. Denny came to Fixit to ask him something, and Russell stayed standing next to Bumblebee. Bee turned towards Optimus as he stepped closer.  
"Bumblebee", Optimus started. He looked a bit absent, Bumblebee frowned lightly. He wanted to talk to Optimus about Ratchet, but what the Prime had in mind seemed more important at the moment. 

Russell looked up at Prime and Bee. He felt like he wasn't really welcome in the conversation, so he retreated to his dad and Fixit. Prime checked their surroundings quickly, everybot else were inside the hearing distance, but seemed to be occupied with something else. Optimus felt safe to ask a personal question. 

Optimus squinted his optics and frowned lightly, avoiding eyecontact with Bumblebee.  
"There's... a question, I've been meaning to ask", Optimus said, Bumblebee quite certain about what the question concerned. Optimus faced him and continued: "Till now, I haven't been able to find the right words for it."  
"You don't need to ask, Optimus, I think I know what you're after", Bumblebee pointed out and raised his hand up as a stop sign. The conversation had caught Russell's attention, as well as few other's. 

Optimus lowered Bee's hand down.  
"No, Bumblebee, I have to ask. I need to", Optimus told him. If this question did indeed concern Ratchet like Bee suspected, Bee believed that the topic must've been hard for Optimus. The Prime went over his question, and asked then: "... Where is Ratchet? How is he?"

Bumblebee smiled sadly.  
"To be entirely honest, Optimus, I- don't know where he is, or how he's doing... Just weeks after you revived our planet, Ratchet told me that he's going away for a while. That the council gave him a mission", Bumblebee explained, gesturing with his hands. Optimus' optics wandered away from Bee for a few seconds before returning.  
"He told me he'd be in contact, but..." 

Optimus lifted a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder and gave a reassuring little push.  
"I haven't heard of him since", Bee ended sadly.  
"It's alright, Bumblebee. Thank you", Optimus answered him and took his hand off.  
"Weren't you able to contact him, like you contacted me from the Realm of the Primes?" Bumblebee asked out of curiosity. Optimus sadly shook his head.  
"No. I was barely able to contact you, the Prime said that your mission was more important compared to everything else. Not a moment passed in that place without me thinking of Ratchet..." 

Bumblebee found that very sad.  
"But we know how he is. Ratchet's strong, I'm certain he's somewhere out there. It's only a matter of time when our roads cross paths again", Optimus explained, gesturing lightly with his hand. Bumblebee hummed and gave a smallish smile.  
"I hope so, Optimus."

With that out of his chest, Optimus turned to leave the command center. Once Optimus had left, Russell came over to the edge of the platform and asked: "Who's Ratchet?" Bumblebee turned towards the human. He lifted up a hand, gesturing while he explaining: "Ratchet was our team's medic during the Great War. He and Optimus, they... they were as close as can be."  
"You mean, they were in a relationship?" asked Denny, coming to stand next to his son. Bumblebee 'umm'ed and answered: "Yeah, I guess that'd be the right word for it." 

"How did a Prime have time to maintain a relationship? Wasn't he, like, busy leading and stuff?" asked Sideswipe from further. He clearly didn't know when _not_ to eavesdrop. Bumblebee turned to look at the red bot, who approached the lieutenant.  
"With Optimus and Ratchet it wasn't what you think. You couldn't really compare what they had to the Earth movies you've seen", lieutenant started and folded his arms on his chest. More bots seemed to pay attention to their conversation.  
"They didn't have nicknames for each other, they didn't hold each other's hands while walking... They just- were in love, and in a relationship. It was professional, restrained, and true."

"Wow, Bee, you almost made it sound poetic", Windblade called from her place. She was sitting on some crates they had laying around.  
"It sounds beautiful!" Grimlock mentioned and placed his hands on his cheeks. The Mini-Con students were clearly paying more attention to the current topic than their meditation, but Drift didn't scold them this time. He himself was actually paying attention too. It was interesting to learn more things about Optimus, even though Drift would prefer hearing them from the bot himself.

"Optimus and Ratchet had been friends for eons. Ratchet was his most trusted and dearest friend, and the other way around", Bee explained and made a few circles with his finger.  
"It was admirable to see how close they were. Nothing could break them apart." 

_Not until Unicron happened the second time..._


	2. Happy Endings

The away team finally made it to one of Windblade's caches. It was located in an abandoned human mining facility, which was built inside a mountain. Most likely the weather conditions had been too much for them. Who knows, the place had been abandoned for ages. A blizzard had been slowing the bots down for an hour already, the team was happy to get some shelter. While Sideswipe worked with Drift to get Polarclaw into stasis, Windblade accessed her supply cache, which exceptionally was located in the same place as the stasis cache. 

She brought Optimus an energon syringe to help with his weakened state. She came over to the Prime, who was sitting on some crates and tried his leg. Sideswipe's leg was still limbing, but he argued that he was still in a better condition than Prime was.   
"I don't know if it will help your state, but as long as it's not synthetic it should make you feel better", she said smiling and handed the syringe for Optimus. Optimus thanked her and took the syringe in his hands. He injected the energon in his left arm and asked: "What do you know about synthetic energon?" The memories of Ratchet and his bad experience with it came fresh into Prime's mind. Windblade offered to take the syringe back and Optimus gave it. He looked down at his arm and tried the injection place lightly.

"Not much. A while back I did read an article about it. I found it while I was trying to find information about Ratchet's whereabouts. He had written it", Windblade explained. This was a topic she had hoped to get to talk about with Optimus. Optimus turned to look at Windblade as she mentioned Ratchet.   
"Do you know Ratchet?" asked Optimus. Windblade hummed lightly and sat down on a crate next to Optimus'. She leaned her elbows on her knees.

"Actually, no..." Windblade started, she felt suddenly quite awkward. Was this a good idea after all?  
"Why are you trying to find him?" asked Optimus and turned a bit on his seat towards Windblade, who crossed her hands on her lap. Windblade thought about for a moment what she should say, how she should explain. She started then: "Back at the scrapyard... After you left, Russell asked about Ratchet and Bee told us about him. ...About you two." Optimus looked at Windblade silently. Jetstorm and Slipstream came over to Windblade and Optimus. 

"I have a little bit of experience of my own in that topic, but it was just a phase. And to hear that... you've had a chance for something so beautiful... It just feels unfair that you are apart. I hoped to find something to help to reunite you", Windblade explained and gestured softly with her hands. Optimus was actually a bit touched, no one had yet told him that what he and Ratchet had- no, _have_ , is beautiful. 

"I am... privilaged to have a chance for it. Not every Prime gets that chance", Optimus said.   
"Thank you for your attempts, Windblade. I appreciate it", Prime continued and lifted his hand on Windblade's shoulder for a moment. She smiled for the Prime.   
"It's no big deal. Really", she answered.  
"I'd be honoured to meet this Ratchet one day", said Slipstream and placed his hand on his chest.  
"Me too", added Jetstorm; "He sounds very honourable and loyal, features of a great warrior!"   
"I'm sure you'll get a chance to meet him", Optimus put in with a soft smile.

"This Ratchet isn't actually a warrior, is he?" asked Drift, who accompanied the others with Sideswipe.  
"Forgive me, sir, I couldn't help overhearing." Optimus lifted up his hand softly and replied: "No harm done, Drift. No, Ratchet isn't of warrior class, but as a medic he is irreplaceable."   
"Ratchet was in charge of building the Ground Bridge we used those days, and without his skills and devotion, we wouldn't have gone far. He saved many lives from situations you couldn't even imagine", Optimus explained, speaking the very truth from the bottom of his spark. Sideswipe had his arms folded on his chest, but he was quite intrigued by this medic. 

Optimus wasn't really going to mention anything about the synthetic energon, but Windblade knew about it. Ratchet hadn't really told in the article that he had himself experienced the Synth En's influence, but Windblade was quite sure it was written from self experience. She wasn't going to mention it either. 

"Warrior class or not, Ratchet must've been one of the best", Jetstorm said, actually waiting for Drift to scold him. But the master didn't. Optimus nodded for the Mini-Con.  
"I feel the same. One should never be determined by their strenght, size or might alone", Prime said and glanced at every bot around him. Something in that sentence warmed Sideswipe's spark. Was it Optimus' strong voice, or the wisdom in his words? 

In a few hours the away team was able to continue their mission. They'd be heading to southwest. 

\--

His route would take him to Earth. What had that criminal to do in Earth? Was there still something to go down there for? Ratchet was sure they hadn't found every single energon mine from that planet, but how could a simple criminal know about a mine the Prime Team hadn't found? Maybe it was just a coincidence for the criminal to set sail to Earth? 

Ratchet placed his hand on his chest, above his spark chamber. Remembering Earth and Team Prime ached his spark, even still. He hadn't been thinking about those things in a long time, because if he was on his weakest and thought about Earth, his former teammates, Optimus, he'd probably break and lose himself. He could give himself a chance to think about those things when on his strongest, which he hadn't been in a while. Chasing this one criminal had turned out to be a real pain in the tailpipe, for years had this chase been going on. 

Ratchet had gotten quite used to talking to himself, since his Mini-Con companion wasn't much of a talker. Not that Ratchet talked too much himself, but out here in space with just a taciturn Mini-Con as his crew, he was getting quite lonely. Apparently his messages hadn't gone through to Bumblebee either, since the bot hadn't answered him. Maybe Cybertron was just too far away... 

Ratchet closed his optics for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out. He opened his optics and set the new coordinates to his ship; they'd be in Earth in some weeks. It wasn't certain how long the trip will take, but as if Ratchet had anywhere else to go.


	3. Lost Time

That moment, that exact second, made everything else around him disappear, turn into meaningless combinations of shapes and colours and textures. Everything stopped, time and space and his breathing got cut as if life was suddenly paused. Ratchet stared at Optimus, his optics wide and everything else meant absolutely nothing to him. In shock and superfluous, though hard to see, happiness Ratchet dropped the stasis pod. Undertone was able to grab it, but dropped it despite his attempt on holding onto it.  
"Undertone, careful!" Ratchet started; "I need that!"

\--

"Bumblebee", Optimus called the yellow bot, who turned to look at him. Grimlock was carrying Clampdown, Drift staying close in case he needed help. The others had already started walking back to the scrapyard. Bumblebee stopped when Optimus called his name, and Strongarm stopped to wait for lieutenant a bit further. Undertone had accompanied Drift's Mini-Cons, they seemed to like the idea of having new Mini-Cons around. Undertone had the stasis pod with him, Slipstream and Jetstorm eagerly helping him carry it. They couldn't really attach the pod to anyone's roof without tools, so they had to walk in bot mode. 

"You go on ahead with everyone else", the leader started, but he didn't need to say anything else. Bee knew what he wanted to do, _needed_ to do. Bumblebee gave Optimus a reassuring smile and told him: "Take your time." He turned to follow the others, Strongarm accompanied him.   
"So that's Ratchet", she said silently, carefully so the two older bots wouldn't hear her.  
"That's him", Bumblebee told her with a smile.  
"I expected him to be, I dunno, more taller?" Strongarm added and chuckled lightly.  
"No really, there's nothing wrong with him", she quickly fixed with a smile.

Optimus looked after Bee and others for a moment before he turned towards Ratchet, who stood behind him. Optimus gestured with his hand for Ratchet to walk with him, and the medic took his usual place alongside his leader. They followed the rest of the team through the woods, they couldn't risk humans seeing them in bot mode. They were in the other's sight, Optimus was still quite new to the surroundings and didn't want to risk getting lost. 

The two older bots walked alongside each other silently, they hadn't said a word yet. Strange, after all this time Ratchet had so many things he wanted to say to Optimus, and now given a chance he couldn't think of anything at all. It was quite the same with Optimus; he would've wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't find proper words. 

Sideswipe slowed down so he was walking next to Bee and Strongarm.  
"Are you sure they are deeply in love with each other? They hadn't said a word!" he whispered to Bee, who huffed. Sideswipe _clearly_ didn't know when _not_ to poke his nose in other's business.   
"Like I said earlier, they are a special case, Sideswipe", Bumblebee answered him and gazed over his shoulder quickly.  
"They'll talk when they feel like it." 

"Optimus", Ratchet finally started. His voice was soft and almost like a whisper. As if talking louder would break the spell or wake him up from a dream. He looked up at Optimus, who was looking down at him.  
"Yes, old friend?" Optimus answered him just as lightly. Ratchet barely pulled his optics away from Optimus' and gave a little shrug.  
"I... I don't know what I should say or ask", he said, Optimus answering him: "You don't have to say anything, if you feel like it."  
"But I can't take this silence anymore", Ratchet quickly replied and stopped Optimus by taking a light hold of his arm. 

"I bet neither of us know exactly what happened to me", Optimus started; "and I don't want to spend our lost time thinking about how I survived. I am sure you don't want to either."  
"You got that right", Ratchet replied with a little bit of ease in his words.   
"Both of us know that what happened once could happen again. Ratchet, I can't promise you a happy ending, or promise you that I'll always be around." 

Ratchet chuckled and lifted his hands on his hips.  
"I've known that from the very beginning, Optimus. You wouldn't believe the conflicts and thoughts I went through in my head before I confessed to you", Ratchet replied to Optimus' statement.   
"We are who we are, Optimus. In what we do, in our everyday lives, there's always a chance our sparks might get extinguished. I've come to terms with that fact. It could've been me, anyday, anytime, anywhere."

Bumblebee noticed that Optimus and Ratchet had fell behind. He asked for Windblade to stay and wait for the bots, she gladly accepted. 

"I knew the risks, I've always known. From the very first day, from the beginning of our friendship. Optimus, we've been close friends for a long time", Ratchet explained. Optimus replied; "Yes, we have", and Ratchet continued: "If you think that I suddenly started loving you less, or started disrespecting you, or anything like that, well-", he chuckled; "-then you've gone mad in that Realm of Primes. I could never, ever, honour or respect or love you less." 

"I'll always be waiting for you, even if it meant next time I'd see you is when I become one with the AllSpark." Optimus was dumbfounded, taken aback by Ratchet's little lecture. Optimus was quite sure that his sparkmate wouldn't stop loving him, but loving someone didn't always mean you'd be together forever. Sometimes it just wasn't mean to be so. Sometimes love just isn't enough. But in this case it wasn't like that. Optimus could be light years, galaxies and apparently universes and realms away from Ratchet, but the love is always there. 

Optimus smiled softly for the medic, who couldn't help a smile of his own. Ratchet took a deep breath and let it out.  
"With that out of my chest... Optimus, I've missed you", Ratchet said, his voice now steady and strong. Optimus nodded, knelt down on one knee and placed his hand on Ratchet's chest.  
"I've missed you terribly, dear friend", Optimus answered him and leaned his forehead on Ratchet's. The medic closed his optics and placed his hands on Optimus' cheeks. 

Windblade was sitting on a big rock when Optimus and Ratchet appeared. She stepped down from the boulder and smiled.  
"Bee asked me to wait for you", she explained before anything was asked.  
"Thank you, Windblade", Optimus replied to her. They started walking home, Windblade quite eager to finally get to talk to Ratchet.  
"It's great to finally meet you, Ratchet", she said, the medic humming lightly.  
"I've heard much about you, Optimus has told us a lot about you and the Team", she continued, Ratchet glancing up at Optimus lightly.  
"Well, thank you, I guess", Ratchet replied with a quick kind smile.

Windblade started; "I've read a lot of your articles as well-" and upon hearing that she had Ratchet's full attention.  
"You have?" he asked, and they started babbleing about this and that. Optimus lost track of their conversation quite soon, but it didn't matter. He smiled, he had finally found Ratchet. Everything felt right and just. He had found his way back _home_.


	4. I Will Wait for You

"So... you're not coming back to Cybertron?" Ratchet asked. He was standing next to Optimus by one of the windows. Little Mini-Cons ran around the _Alchemor_ , it still needed some repairing around the ship. Space was so dark at this part, few brighter stars guided their way home.   
"I'm sorry, old friend", Optimus replied and Ratchet placed his hand on Prime's arm.  
"No, don't be, Optimus. I understand why. I actually agree with your choice; me and Windblade returning to confront the government is already a lot. You returning would turn the council insane..." Ratchet agreed with Optimus' choice, even if it didn't please him. 

Optimus turned towards Ratchet.   
"Our world order is complicated now, but I'm certain that one day everything will make sense", Optimus told his partner. Ratchet sighed lightly and turned towards Optimus.  
"I sure hope so", Ratchet told his leader and let a soft smile form on his face. Optimus placed his hand on Ratchet's cheek and hummed with a smile.

"I will see you soon, Ratchet. This is not our last meeting."  
"You told me you won't promise me that."  
"I didn't exactly promise. We will see each other. Someplace, sometime. Hopefully before the AllSpark." 

Toolbox rolled over to the two old bots.  
"Prime sir, we've prepared the ship you required!" he said raising his hand. Optimus straightened up to his place and answered to the Mini-Con: "Thank you, Toolbox. I will take my leave before we reach Cybertron."  
"I'd gladly have you around for longer, but if you need to go, then you need to go", Toolbox said, smiled and left the scene.

"What are you going to do, Optimus? What's your plan?" Ratchet asked the Prime, who hummed.  
"I'm still trying to figure it out myself. I can't tell you about it yet, old friend, but I'll try to keep you informed as much and usually as I can", Optimus answered his medic, who replied: "I suggest you keep contact in minimum, at least for now. I can't be sure about how the council will welcome me there, so I can't tell where I'll end up in." 

"Ratchet, I said I won't promise you anything... but I promise that one day everything will turn out alright. What we have done for Cybertron won't go to waste. No matter were we here to witness it or not", spoke Optimus with encouraging and strong words. Ratchet nodded, trusting what he just said. Those words truly affected one's motivation. Optimus never let anybot down with his speeches.   
"I trust you, Optimus", he answered silently. Ratchet raised his hand on Prime's chest and Optimus placed his hand on Ratchet's. 

"I will wait for you. I always will."


End file.
